the stories of one southern, class-straddling lawyer and her death row clients

Tag Archives: domestic violence

The most stressful part of investigating a death penalty case for a defense attorney is talking with the family members of the murder victim. Needless to say, many survivors of murder are not expecting to be contacted by the killer’s attorney – especially years after the trial — and many are not happy when they are contacted. But when the family members of the victim are also the family members of your client, you have no choice. If you want to be a diligent and effective advocate, you have to reach out to your client’s family.

We had one reason for hope of victim family cooperation in Zane’s case: he and his wife Frannie had reconciled. After an initial period of shock and anger, and after Zane had been tried and sentenced to death, Frannie began making the four hour trek once a month to Central Prison to visit the man who had killed her son. According to Zane, she had forgiven him and she would help us. See post at https://cadcocknc.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/meeting-my-first-death-row-client/

This news was good, but it wasn’t news I could count on. Frannie still lived in the same small house in which Zane had shot and killed her son — on Beaverdam Loop Road, set far back in a holler. Zane had given me a long list of his friends to contact, many of whom lived on Beaverdam Loop Road. There was only one way in and out of the holler and that was by Beaverdam Road, a long winding country road through beautiful farmland. We had to take all precautions to protect our investigation, in case Frannie would not speak with us or, worse, tell others not to speak with us. Thus, my plan was to talk to as many friends that we could, and before any of the Hills found out we were in the holler.

Zane had given me many addresses of his family and friends, which was helpful. In the early 1990s, there was no internet you could use to find people. Without an address, the resources were the phonebook and good old fashion gumshoeing. If you couldn’t get an address, you could often find someone who could tell you how to find person you sought. Directions given often were descriptive in nature: “Go over two hills, turn right at the tree with a big split in it, then go past the red barn and just past the pasture with the big black cow, you will see the trailer on the left.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Zane’s neighbors. These people may have once been Zane’s friends but would they still think of him that way? Or would they want to have nothing to do with their friend-turned-murderer? After all, Frannie still lived among them. Would they be willing to help Zane without her okay? So, our first trip into the holler was not preceded by any phone calls. We just showed up, hoping people were home.

Stealing my nerves, my investigator and I began knocking on doors. To my great relief, Zane’s friends — young and old, male and female alike — were welcoming and eager to help. They accepted that Zane had shot his son, Randy, a man they all liked. He was the “good” son, the one that caused no trouble. But, person after person believed that Zane would not have shot Randy if he had been in his right mind. Yes, they knew about the reported history of domestic violence but most minimized it. More than one neighbor explained, “Frannie could give it as good as she got it.”

Like this:

Zane’s father, Curtis, was by everyone’s account mean and cruel. His meanness did not come out of a bottle, as one might expect from a mountain man. Curtis did not drink alcohol. He was just plain mean.

Zane and his mother lived in constant fear of Curtis. Curtis would get angry at them for anything or for nothing at all. When he was mad at Zane, which was most every day, Curtis would yell at him, call him stupid and tell him he was a bastard.

Curtis would beat the living daylights out of Zane. Curtis would beat him with his fist or whatever he happened to have in his hand at the time. Zane was forced to milk the cows before school. If he did not “do it right” or – heaven forbid – he spilled some of the milk, Curtis would beat Zane. Once, when Zane was about seven years old, he broke his arm. Curtis beat Zane for breaking his arm.

Curtis would often beat Zane as a matter of routine when Zane came home from school. To avoid Curtis and the abuse, Zane would plow the fields until late into the night, sometimes as late as two or three in the morning. When Zane was about ten, he started spending his time over at his neighbor Hoile’s house to avoid Curtis. Zane would stay in his room a lot when he was younger. If he was not in his room he would be over at Hoile’s.

Curtis would do other things just to be mean to Zane. When Zane was very young he had a pet dog which he loved. Curtis killed the dog and made sure that Zane knew it. Curtis never offered an explanation to Zane for why he killed his dog. But then, Curtis seemed to have no misgivings about hurting animals. He was known to regularly beat cows with sticks, once beating a cow with a hoe in the head killing it. Curtis even beat his blind horse. He would get mad at the horse because it did not know where it was going.

Curtis was also known to wield a knife. Curtis once cut the throat of Albert Whitaker, who had been dating his daughter, Margaret. Albert made a comment about Margaret going out with other men. The next thing Albert knew, he was in the hospital, with a gapping slit in his throat. Curtis even tried to cut Zane with a knife, but Zane escaped.

Despite the reprehensible nature of Curtis’ treatment of his only son, it paled in comparison to the brutality Curtis heaped upon his wife, Selma. There was physical abuse. Selma’s sister Mary and her son Zane both recalled seeing the bruises, black eyes, and welts on Selma’s body from Curtis’ beatings. Curtis used to jerk Selma out of bed in the middle of the night for various reasons such as to go look for Zane or to milk the cows. Curtis beat Selma once with a switch to try and get her to milk a cow that would kick people in the head when anyone tried to milk it. Selma’s back was always hurting her. She even had to go to the hospital a couple of times because of her back. Eventually Selma had to have her kidney removed, apparently caused by Curtis’s abuse.

There was also psychological abuse. Curtis was always yelling at Selma, often calling her crazy. But the worst came at bedtime. Curtis would twist his shirt up like a rope and keep it by his bedside. He would tell Selma to go to sleep but not expect to wake up, because he was going to strangle her in her sleep. Alternatively, he would threaten to hang Selma. Once he was caught with Selma up on a ramp in the barn with a rope around her neck. Someone entered the barn and he desisted.

Mary was very protective of her sister Selma. Mary told me that Selma was the quiet one and that she was the fighting one. When Mary came around, Curtis would behave himself.

Neither Zane nor Selma talked to others much about Curtis’ abuse. Selma was afraid of Curtis and never told of Curtis’ abuse until after he died. Some family members saw the abuse firsthand. After Curtis’ death, Selma told a few close friends of the abuse. When the abuse was occurring, the young Zane told Hoile about some of what was happening. As an adult, Zane rarely talked about Curtis.

When I asked Zane why he didn’t talk about the abuse, he said he was ashamed. “I knew that other kids weren’t treated like that by their fathers, so I didn’t want anyone to know.” Now I knew why he didn’t tell his defense attorneys at trial . . . and why I had to get the details from his family. Old secrets are hard to break.

In North Carolina, the overall crime rate increased 39.6 percent between 1984 and 1994. The state’s violent crime rate experienced the greatest spike between 1988 and 1992, with a 35.3 percent increase.[1] This was the period in which I became immersed in murder cases.

One cause commonly cited for the increase in violent crime during the 1980s and ‘90s is the emergence of crack cocaine. I can think of another: there was a dramatic change in attitudes about violence against women and children. I can remember when hitting your wife and even raping her were not crimes. “She must have driven him to it or even wanted it” was a common response.

Thus, the increase in violent crime is, in part, perception. Acts once tolerated as part of domestic relations became criminal. As a result, women began acting accordingly and reporting it. Of course, even today, many women still do not report violent acts perpetrated on them.

I grew up among rocky domestic relations. I witnessed first-hand my mama and the men in her life argue, stomp, slam doors, and even pull the keys out of the ignition while traveling down the road. I never saw physical violence, though it likely happened. I also heard the tales of the affairs of my father and my grandfather, a different kind of disrespect and abuse of women. Then there was the legendary abuse by my uncle T.W. of his wife and son, ending with his son shooting him dead. https://mysites.charlottelaw.edu/personal/cadcock/Personal%20Documents/Blog%20entries.docx

I was one to stay out of the way. I was not a vocal child. Nevertheless, there was early evidence of feminism. I was one of three girls who became the first female members of the Key Club at Coosa High School. The boys, by the way, showed no mercy in our initiation.

In college, I was introduced to the wide world of “women’s issues.” Whenever given the chance, I studied and wrote on women and religion. My mentor was the only female religion professor, Carolyn Blevins. I loved her classes on women in the Bible and in Baptist history.

In Seminary, my service gravitated towards helping women and children. I spent one summer volunteering at a battered women’s safe house in southeast Atlanta, a poor, primarily African-American community. I saw firsthand the plight of poor women trying to gain independence from abusive men.

When I returned to Louisville, I began volunteering at the local rape crisis center. I was on-call just a few nights a month. If called, I was required to rush to the hospital to meet a rape victim and accompany her through the process. Or, if lucky, the call would be from a victim who was having a hard time coping and just wanted to talk. (more at https://mysites.charlottelaw.edu/personal/cadcock/Personal%20Documents/Blog%20entries.docx) I saw and listened to women in terror.

Fast forward to 1993 and my first months as a death penalty defense lawyer. I wondered how I would handle being an advocate for a man who had killed a wife, girlfriend or child.

Like this:

A man in a read jumpsuit appeared outside the door on the other side of the viewing window. His movements suggested that the guard was removing handcuffs. When the door swung open, Zane shuffled in and took a seat. He was just a couple of feet away but the concrete wall with the plexiglas window kept us from physical contact. Zane did not look the death row type. He looked like a “normal” old man, older than the 57 years he had behind him. The hard life of the mountains and the hard drinking were apparent.

Henderson explained our purpose, and Zane seemed pleased that someone was paying attention to his case. I explained how I would be developing the facts of his case, in support of his court appointed attorneys. We had to move fast given the deadlines set by the Court. He was ok with my plan, but he wanted me to know one thing: “I can’t do a life sentence.”

Hmmm. “So, you would rather be executed than do a life sentence?” I asked. He slowly nodded and explained the hellacious prison conditions that were draining him of life.

“I didn’t mean to kill him,” Zane said, referring to his son. “Randy was a good kid . . . but he pulled a gun on me.” Zane continued to tell us his perspective of what happened that fateful night, which was consistent with his trial testimony. He believed that he shot his son in self-defense and that he did not shoot at his wife. Rather, the gun went off accidentally when he went out the door.

Zane was polite, looking down much of the time, glancing up occasionally as if to check to see if we were still there. The D.A. offered a plea deal to second degree murder, but Zane believed even then that he couldn’t do the time. Had he taken the offer he would be eligible for parole in 7-10 years. But Zane was a stubborn man. His clouded memories of the shooting convinced him that he shot in self-defense, and he hated being locked up. He was very fearful of police and of guards.

Zane had no trusted attorney to walk him through the deal. He hired one of the best lawyers in town when first arrested, the lawyer who had done previous work for him, but Zane ran out of money very quickly. So, he was assigned court-appointed attorneys, who he didn’t know and who had very little capital experience.

I asked about his wife. “Are you and Frannie still married? “Yea,” he answered. “She visits me every month.” Really? This news was encouraging. The mother of the victim regularly visits her son’s killer. One of the hardest aspects of a death case for defense lawyers is dealing with the surviving victims. In domestic cases, the killer’s family and the victim’s family are one and the same. This reality complicates the work of the legal team who relies upon a client’s family for help in building a case for life.

Zane assured me that Frannie would help me. I had my doubts, but told him I would contact her.